Spotted Crake Porzana porzana Scientific name definitions

22–24 cm; unsexed 57–147 (87·5) g; wingspan 37–42 cm. Rather plump crake, readily distinguished from sympatric rallids on size, structure and plumage: spotted appearance, lack of extensive grey on underparts (can be somewhat greyer than illustrated), buff undertail-coverts; yellow bill with greenish tip and orange-red spot at base of upper mandible; white leading edge to wing well visible in flight. Sexes similar; male in non-breeding plumage has less grey and more spotting on face and underparts; female has less grey and more spots than male on these areas in both plumages. Rare variations in colour of undertail-coverts from dark feather tips to black and white barring. P. carolina differs most obviously in colour and pattern of head, neck and breast, and lack of red on bill. Immature similar to non-breeding adult but has more white spots on side of head, and narrower black margins to white markings on breast; bill changes from yellow-brown with yellow base to olive green with orange base. Juvenile similar to immature but has streak over eye brown or cream with tiny white spots, neck mottled grey-brown and off-white, breast olive brown to bright brown with white or buff markings, and flanks less contrastingly barred; eye greenish; bill olive brown to greenish horn, darker at tip and more orange at base; legs dull green.

British Is (very locally) and Spain E across S Scandinavia, N Mediterranean and Balkans to W & C Russia, Caucasus, Iran and Arabia (1 Jennings, M. C. (2010). Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Arabia. Fauna of Arabia 25. King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, Saudi Wildlife Commission & Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia & Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Close ), continuing to Kazakhstan, SW Siberia (Suva), NW China (W Xinjiang) and NW Mongolia. Winters from Mediterranean and Middle East S to W Africa, and from Sudan S to NE South Africa and W to Namibia; also Pakistan and India; irregularly SW Caspian Sea.

Freshwater wetlands with dense cover of sedges and rushes (Carex, Eleocharis, Cyperus, Juncus, etc.), grass (e.g. Panicum, Poa, Deschampsia), Polygonum, Iris, Equisetum and other emergents; sometimes with trees such as Acacia, Sesbania, Betula, Salix and Alnus; frequents areas where substrate moist, muddy or flooded to c. 15 cm. Optimum conditions found in wetlands with range of water depths or where suitable foraging areas produced by variations in water level. Occurs in marshes (permanent or seasonal) and fens, at sewage ponds, pools in flooded grassland, and at margins of dams, lakes and sluggish rivers. On migration may occur in atypical habitats. In African winter quarters often occupies ephemeral habitats, with rapidly changing water levels, not normally inhabited by breeding Afrotropical rallids. Recorded up to 2420 m.

European birds move S to SW in autumn; some winter S Europe and N Africa (Egypt and Morocco), others in W, E & SE Africa; relative paucity of wintering records from Africa attributed to secretiveness and inaccessibility of habitat. Autumn dispersal begins Jul; some birds halt in Aug to moult, and are flightless for 2–3 weeks; marked S movement Aug–Sept; most reach or pass Mediterranean by mid-Nov; passage recorded Egypt and Sudan Sept–Oct, Kenya Nov–Jan. Recorded Sudan and Ethiopia Sept–May; E Africa Nov to early May; C to S Africa Nov–Apr, with peak numbers Jan–Mar. In W Africa occurs Senegal Sept–Feb; isolated Sept–Mar records Mauritania, Mali, Chad, Niger, Liberia, Ivory Coast, and Nigeria (several); probably commoner and more widespread than records indicate. Itinerant in African wintering areas; in Zambia arrives at flooded sites soon after local rain and departs when conditions become too dry, maximum period of residence being 23 days. Passage through N Africa and Mediterranean more marked in spring, suggesting that more birds overfly these regions in autumn; return movements recorded Morocco to Libya and Sudan Mar–May, Kenya Apr–May, and Europe Mar–Apr; European breeding grounds reoccupied Apr. Birds of unknown origin pass through Iraq and Near East; passage Saudi Arabia and Aden Apr and Nov, Oman Sept–Dec; may overwinter regularly. Movements noted former USSR Aug–Oct and Mar–May, in Azerbaijan Oct–Dec and Mar–Apr; sometimes winters in Azerbaijan. Arrives N India Sept–Oct; return movements noted NW Pakistan Mar–Apr. Vagrant to Iceland, Greenland (9 records), Lesser Antilles and Seychelles; regarded as vagrant to Djibouti, Somalia, Socotra, Yemen and C Thailand. One individual found at same wintering site, Transvaal, in 2 successive years.

Omnivorous; mainly small aquatic invertebrates and parts of aquatic plants. Takes earthworms , molluscs, Arachnida, insects and their larvae (Trichoptera, Odonata, Diptera, Coleoptera, Hemiptera, Lepidoptera and ants), and small fish stranded in drying pools. Plant material includes algae, shoots, leaves and roots, and seeds (Panicum, Oryza, Carex and Schoenoplectus). Forages in water up to 7 cm deep, and on wet to dry mud, usually keeping close to cover; picks food from surface of substrate and immerses head in water; sometimes feeds 10–15 m from cover with groups of shorebirds such as Wood Sandpipers (Tringa glareola); stretches up to strip seeds from grass inflorescences; also walks on floating vegetation and gleans from underside of water-lily (Nymphaea) leaves; swims occasionally. Most active early and late in the day.

Europe, Apr–Jul; former USSR, May–Jul. Monogamous; pair-bond maintained only during breeding season. Territorial when breeding and also in winter quarters. Nest a thick-walled cup of dead leaves and stems of available vegetation; placed in thick vegetation close to or over standing water, in tussock or built up well above water level; concealing vegetation often pulled over to form canopy; external diameter 12–14 cm, height 8–10 cm. Both sexes build. Usually 8–12 eggs (6–14), laid at rate of 1 per 1·5 days; replacements laid after clutch loss; incubation 18–19 days per egg, up to 24 days for clutch, by both sexes; hatching asynchronous, taking 3 days; black downy chick has green gloss on head, throat and upperparts, iris grey to brown-black, upper mandible red at base, yellow in middle and white at tip, lower mandible black with red-brown base, white band and black band in middle, and white tip, legs and feet grey-brown to black; chicks precocial and nidifugous; fed and cared for by both parents; remain in nest until all clutch hatched, then leave in 8–10 hours; become self-feeding after several days; fledging up to 45 days; post-juvenile moult late Jul to Oct. Hatching success 83%. Age of first breeding 1 year. Usually double-brooded.

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Numbers fluctuate widely in most areas, due to nature of preferred habitat, but decreases evident over most of European range during present century due to wetland drainage; now local and uncommon to rare in most regions. A survey in UK in 2012 recorded 28 singing males, representing a 65% decline since 1999 (2 Schmitt, S., Eaton, M. and Drewitt, A. (2015). The Spotted Crake in the UK: results of the 2012 survey. British Birds. 108(4): 220–230. Close ). In Africa regarded as locally common in winter in Egypt, Senegal and Burundi but scarce elsewhere except in major known wintering region comprising Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe and probably Mozambique, within which region possibly not uncommon but overall numbers difficult to assess because of erratic occurrence and annual fluctuations. Generally uncommon in S Africa but locally common at temporary pans in extreme NE Namibia; 1 unconfirmed oversummering record Lesotho. Wintering habitat in Africa probably decreasing as result of wetland destruction. Formerly numerous in S & C USSR, and locally abundant further N and in Transcaucasia; still common in Azerbaijan and elsewhere, but decreasing in some areas. Status in other regions difficult to assess: in past, said to be commoner than supposed in India and Pakistan. In long term, vulnerable to changes in water levels, whether caused by wetland modification and drainage or by climatic changes, but can occupy artificially created habitats, especially in winter quarters.